OPI Elephantastic Pink

Hello lovelies,

Last week was quite a warm week and I wanted a nail polish to reflect my then summery mood. For summer I strongly associate coral colours to the beach and hot days so I rummaged through my collection to pick on of my much beloved OPI's of my collection.

My pick was Elephantastic Pink which is a pink-coral rather than an orangey-coral. As I had been in a pink mood recently, I chose to wear this over a more true coral like 'I Mainly Eat Lobster'. This I had picked up from Fragrance Direct for £3.99 which (as I have mentioned before) is a bargain for OPI and their quality. I expected nothing less than long lasting nail colour when I applied this.

First things first, the thing I love most about this particular polish is its high-shine finish. I have seen many people rave about Barry M's high shine 'gelly' polishes and this is equal in shine. I was so impressed with its shiny finish I could not stop looking at it! It is certainly one of the more gel-like polishes OPI have released.

The one side I have found with this polish is it did not wear as well as other OPI polishes I have used before. As you can see in the picture (after two days wear), you can see some tip wear and even some small chips in the polish. I was a little annoyed by this but I am not sure how much of this is own to me not buffing my nails before hand (silly me!).

Overall, I am split with my opinion of this polish. I LOVE the colour and I think the gel finish is absolutely fantastic. It looks very gorgeous on and I think it would be ideal for hot holidays and times at the beach. However, the lasting power is disappointing as it chips quicker than most of my other OPI polishes. This would probably be a bottle for short wear only.

Do you own this colour? What do you think to this shade?

Bourjois 1 Seconde Nail Polish in No 15

Hello all!

I hope you are all having a lovely summer. Here in the UK, the weather has been temperamental but it has been a nice day today :) So I am wanting to wear some summery colours for my nails. So I picked Bourjois 1 Seconde Nail Polish in No. 15. I received this from my boyfriend at Christmas time after I had picked out a load of nail varnishes I wanted from Fragrance Direct. Unfortunately for me, when I researched swatches of the colours for these, the wrong shades were being shown as Bourjois have released a newer 'gel' line of these products. Fortunately, the colours were nice that arrived and this was one of my favourites.

This polish is a 'Barbie' pink full of silver mirco glitter. This combination looks very pretty on the nails and is perfect for a summer time look for the beach. The only downside to this polish is that it can be a pain to take off because of all the little glitter particles. 

One of the best things about this polish is the brush. They claim it is an 'innovation' because of its wide brush and this is what the '1 Second' is referring to: one second to apply. I love wider brushes as application is easier which is why I don't own many Barry M.

The claims on the back of the polish say that it takes 50 seconds to dry. This is about right but this does mean touch dry rather than fully dry. Nevertheless, this polish has a quick 'fully dry' time than some other polishes.

Overall, I like this polish. Application is easy and the colour is pretty. Would I have paid full price for this? No. But for £1.50 from Fragrance Direct it was definitely worth it.

Do you like Bourjois polishes?

Essie 'Neo Whimsical'

This is another polish from the Fragrance Direct haul. I have noticed that so far on my blog, I have only really posted about O.P.I and Rimmel. Well I want to change that and hence I decided to put something different on my nails recently and try Essie's 'Neo Whimsical' which can be purchased for £1.99 online. Usually, I do not tend to wear nude colours as I get far more excited about bright colours. But as my Mum had bought this, I thought I would try it out.

In the bottle, it looks like a dingy, milky pink. I was not too excited about trying it. However, the swatches online looked a lot better. As you know, sometimes the colour in the bottle is not what always relays on the nail so I decided to give it a go.

Essie 'Neo Whimsical'

I was pleasantly surprised by this. I expected the formula to be really runny and thin but it was not. One coat was translucent and a bit streaky but after the second coat it became opaque and beautiful. The picture above is three coats. Application was smooth and evens out when it dries.

The colour of this is more pink/lilac than I expected. It certainly didn't look murky like it did in the bottle. This would be a good base for a French manicure. The best thing I can liken it to from my collection is Nails Inc Elizabeth Street but slightly more toned down. It is definitely worth buying this over Elizabeth Street!

I would certainly recommend this to others. It would be good for people in a professional working environment or those that want to try nail polishes that are not too 'daring'.

Do you own 'Neo Whimsical'? Do you think it is a great understated colour?

xxxx

Nails Inc 'Elizabeth Street'

Hello Beauty Fans!

I hope you are all having a fine day. I have decided to swatch something different to O.P.I. today (although I was very tempted) and try some Nails Inc which I had not worn for a while.  I got four Nails Inc polishes just before Christmas which came with the December issue of Glamour Magazine. This worked out about £2 a polish and the first one I grabbed was Elizabeth Street. Elizabeth Street is a very pale pink for those who like to play it safe or would like something for a French Manicure. It is also very sheer and is difficult to become completely opaque.

When I first used it I thought it was amazing. It felt like it look a while to chip and the application seemed very smooth and streak free. But how do I feel about it now?

Nails Inc. 'Elizabeth Street'

Well, it's not quite as beautiful and stress free as I remember. As you can see from the bottle in the picture, I have used a lot of the lacquer and therefore this may have made the formula gloopier. When painting my nails it felt as if each coat was thicker and streakier than the last. When dry, it feels quite plastic-y and has a very 'cheap' feel to it. I also noticed that it dented easier while drying and drying time took a looooong while. I am just not feeling this polish as much as I did at Christmas time.

I'm not sure whether this is because the polish just isn't that good, the length of time I've owned this has affected its formula or whether I'm being hard on Nails Inc because I have since found a love in O.P.I.

Buying this for £2 (including the magazine) made this worth buying. However, I would not buy this full price from the shop (£11 for poor quality after a few months? No thank you...). I would rather spend 50p more and buy superior O.P.I. quality.

What do you lot think of Nails Inc.? Have I just got a rubbish bottle of polish? Or do you think that Nails Inc. are overpriced?

xxxxx

P.S.: I promise I do not promote O.P.I. for a living :)